BAA sells its 58 duty-free shops

The airport operator BAA went some way towards quenching its thirst for cash yesterday by selling its chain of 58 duty-free shops to Italy's Autogrill.

BAA, which faces an annual interest bill of about £900m, raised £546.6m through the disposal of World Duty Free Europe, which has shops at the company's seven UK airports. The deal makes Autogrill the world's largest operator of such stores.

Andrew Fitchie, airports analyst at Collins Stewart, said BAA had got a good price for World Duty Free, but warned that it was "a tiny step" to reducing its debt pile.

BAA has debts of £9bn following its takeover by the Spanish firm Ferrovial in 2006. The subsequent credit crunch has made it impossible to refinance its debts at a lower cost, and analysts fear that servicing the loans could cripple the company.

Today, the Civil Aviation Authority is expected to give BAA approval for a large increase in landing charges at Heathrow and Gatwick, which may lead to ticket prices rising. It may also limit BAA's permitted rate of return at the two airports.

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